George Lilanga – Huile sur isorel – kini akwango

George Lilanga was born in Masasi in 1934, in the highlands on the border of Mozambique and Tanzania and died in 2005 in Dar es Salaam, where he lived and worked. In 1961, Makonde sculptors introduced him to sculpture. He moved with them to the Dar es Salaam region where working conditions were more favorable. George Lilanga founded Nyumba ya Sanaa (the House of Arts) there with other artists in 1973 and simultaneously developed a work of sculpture and painting.
His works derive from the Makonde culture and are subject to a magical thought: ancestors, geniuses and natural forces occupy an important place. They appear as staging of ancestral, mythological or legendary stories, played out by the village or urban population. All of Lilanga's sculptural and pictorial work remains inspired by this culture, nevertheless testifies to a profound revolution which inaugurates the birth of individualization and personal talent in Africa. His polychrome works reveal a highly developed aesthetic sense and reflect a keen sense of social criticism and caricature. Nicknamed "the Picasso of Africa", George Lilanga draws on all these traditions, which he renews in a contemporary context. His compositions left an impression and the recognition he enjoyed did not take long to cross borders.PERSONAL EXHIBITIONS
2002 George Lilanga di Nyama: Mapico Dance, MAMCO, Geneva, Switzerland
2001 Tribute to George Lilanga, Alliance Française, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
1999 Storie Africane: Georges Lilanga, Galleria Franco Cancelliere Arte Contemporanea, Messina, Italy
1998 Lilanga’s Cosmos, Sudou Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
1995 Lilanga’s Cosmos, Tama Art University Museum, Tokyo, Japan